The purpose of this blog is to provide families with precise, up-to-date
information on all of America World Adoption’s programs, helpful
resources and adoption stories. We pray that you are encouraged
by seeing God working in families through the Spirit of Adoption.

November 2007

November 30, 2007

Employment OpportunityPart-time Director of Social Services – NJ & TNAmerica World Adoption Association, an evangelical Christian non-profit international adoption agency, is seeking part-time Directors of Social Services for the states of New Jersey and Tennessee. Responsibilities include conducting/supervising home studies and post placements; obtaining and maintaining the agency’s license in accordance with state regulations; conducting home study orientation meetings and training for families; conducting training for home study coordinators; assisting public relations managers with adoption fellowship groups and seminars as needed; meeting with families in the office or at the family’s home during or after business hours; setting up a network of as-needed social workers to conduct home studies and post placements with families.

Christmas CampVisiting Orphans' Christmas camp in Russia is just over a month away! So far, 27 of the possible 45 children have been sponsored. If you are able to help send an orphan to camp for a week, please contact Ryan.Hanlon@awaa.org for more information.

Families received an email this week from the Special Needs Team regarding the urgent need to find homes specifically for children with special needs who will soon turn 14 years old. Under Chinese adoption law, a child must be adopted before his or her 14th birthday. Families can call 1-888-One-Child or email specialneeds@awaa.org and a Special Needs Coordinator will be happy to provide additional information on one of these children.

America World is happy to announce the arrival of 13 Special Needs Travel Approvals! These families will be traveling to China on December 6th and 13th.

Travel Group 129SN was welcomed home on November 29th with their new little ones. America World requests prayer for these families as they adjust to life with a new member of their family.

Travel Group 129 (LID group 241 and 5 Special Need families) booked flights this week and are in the process of preparing to depart for China on December 13th. Please keep these families in mind as they wait for final details of their in-country travel.

Due to a slow down in the MOWA’s processing of the necessary letters for court, the five court cases set for November have been rescheduled for Dec. 7th. Please continue to pray that all goes smoothly and for the staffing needs of MOWA. Rachel Ward and her husband Barrett are in Ethiopia for 10 days. They will be working with Girmachew and the transition home staff as we continue to work on getting the home up and running 100%. In this season of thanksgiving we are especially grateful for all of the generous gifts that have come in for the transition home. On behalf of the many children who will pass through those doors in the future, we say thank you and God bless

NOTE: All families in the process that have not submitted dossiers and been approved by OPA (Office for Adoptions) must submit birth certificates and general physical examination forms for any children in the home. Please contact your family coordinator if you have any questions on this.

America World had one family whose dossier was submitted to the Consulate this week, as well as one family whose dossier was sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a region. America World encourages families collecting their dossier to strive to have all documents as recent as possible, as we are seeing increased scrutiny by the Consulate and a desire for recent documents. America World continues to accept applications for the Kazakhstan program.

America World is excited to announce that one family has finalized the adoption of their son from a particularly difficult region in Russia. We are praising God and giving Him the glory for granting this family a successful court appointment with a new judge that has recently come into office in this region. The families in this region have been in the process for an extensive amount of time and have encountered multiple delays due to accreditation and regional politics. At this time there are three remaining families waiting to complete rescheduled court dates to finalize their adoptions, with one of those families currently in Russia. Due to the significant difficulties presented by regional authorities, America World would ask for continued prayer for God's intervention to allow the remaining three families to finalize their adoptions and bring their children home.

America World received news this week that the 2008 quota for dossiers being accepted was announced by the SDA. For 2008, the US can submit 460 dossiers, a decrease of 98 dossiers from 2007. This number was determined based on the average number of adoptions completed by US citizens from 2000-2007, the number of children anticipated to be available for adoption in 2008, and the number of missing post placement reports. The US is reported to have 534 missing post placement reports.